Recycle Your Paint

Recycle Your Paint

Recycle Your Paint

Yes, you can make recycling your paint safer and easier; do not dump paint down into the water system!

When disposed improperly, paint can be a hazard by plugging or damaging septic fields. It can also overwhelm sewage treatment plants and turn dumpsites on the ground into hazardous areas.

Fortunately, there are solutions to the green problem of throwing away your old paint. First, make sure that there is no more than 1/4 of an inch of paint in the bottom of the can - meaning that the color is there, but the paint isn't. Try to use up as much of the paint as possible. When painting, it is important to know roughly how much product is required for the specific surface size you are painting. Painting companies such as Shearer Painting, have trained professionals that will calculate the amount of paint necessary to properly coat a surface without leaving a large amount of excess paint. If you're doing a job yourself, the same information can be provided to you by the paint manufacturer or often times the sales associates at most paint stores.

For the rest of the paint, let it dry out by leaving the lid off. You can toss this small bit of paint, and then put the can in a scrap metal bin at a drop-off facility. If you can't find a community drop-off bin, know that some facilities will receive metal for recycling. Take care - do not put it in the curbside recycling bin (it isn't food grade material, and thus cannot be recycled in that way; plus, it's too large).

In terms of the paint itself, latex paint is a material that can be disposed of without having to take to a hazardous waste facility. Latex or water-based paints can be dried out and made safe for disposal merely by exposing it to the air (as previously stated).

It is crucial, however, when preparing to dispose of paints that it is latex-based. Oil-based paint does not dry out when exposed to air and can be a real hazard due to the fumes that emanate from the paint, which are not only toxic but also flammable. So what do you do if the leftover paint you have is indeed oil-based? Well, though you can't dispose of it yourself, you can take it too a household hazardous waste facility. These facilities will dispose of your unwanted paint properly and safely. This may also be an option if you have large quantities of latex paint. Household hazardous waste facilities can be found in every state across the country. Most of these facilities will charge a fee for the disposal of paint. For example, the average fee in King County, Washington, is roughly $7 per gallon; the average cost in LA County is $6.75 per gallon.

When preparing to dispose of paint, the first step is as easy as looking at the label or lift the lid. Latex paints will often have the words "latex," "acrylic," or "water-based" on the label, while oil based paint will have the words "alkyd," or "oil-based" associated with them. Also present on the label, latex paints will have clean-up instructions telling you to "clean with water." If the label states to "clean with solvents," or that's that the product is "flammable" or "combustible," then you're dealing with alkyd paint. Sometimes the container itself can tell you what kind of paint you have without even looking at the label. If your paint can is plastic, you most definitely have a latex paint. Oil-based paints always come in metal cans. Dry time is also a discerning factor, as latex paint typically dries in about an hour when applied to a surface. Oil-based paints will often have to dry overnight.

Recycling paint may seem to require time and energy, but in a world of gulf disasters and large carbon footprints, cleaning up after yourself - even just by using up all of your paint or disposing of it properly - can create a world of difference.

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